Bastian
Chapter 140 - The Only Beautiful Thing

✧The Only Beautiful Thing✧

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Franz didn’t know when the knife had been taken from him, but when he realised it was no longer in his hand, it was already too late. He was sprawled out on his back, Bastian leaning over him with the knife in his hand. It had happened in the blink of an eye.

   Franz let out a hysterical laugh, even as the pain in his back burned. He knew he wouldn’t be able to beat Bastian, but if he could take him by surprise then maybe. It had not worked, clearly. 

   “How the true nature of the lowly beast come forth,” Franz said, trying to provoke Bastian as he lay facing the night sky. Even after the stabbing, he didn’t budge an inch. 

He realized he couldn’t ever defeat this monstrous foe when Odette’ shot shattered the car’s window. That Franz Klauswitz’s life had ended, a reality he had long accepted. He would forever dwell in his half-brother’s shadow, perhaps even since the day he was born and couldn’t become another Bastian Klauswitz.

   “Do you want to know why I was contented to just watch you?” Bastian said, “you were nothing more than an accessory for your mother. There was no reason to treat you as your own agent, but now you bare your teeth to me, out of greed that has nothing to do with your mother. This is a different story.” Bastian stared down at Franz.

   Franz swallowed dryly. Bastian had never taken him seriously, not even for a second. But now he was taking him seriously and the horror of the realisation washed over him and fear gripped his heart.

   He was sick and tired of living a life that felt more like a never ending death sentence, always living in another persons shadow, always expected to achieve and out do his counter part. He was done with it, he wanted to die and didn’t care that Bastian would be the executioner.

Somehow, he was no longer afraid of Bastian. While he might not be able to reach where he was in the end, he had the power to bring him down to his own level on the ground. It was the first time in his life that Franz felt like his equal.

   “Do you really love her?” Franz said as he giggled, out of breath and clapping his hands. “Do you have some longing for terrible traitors that don’t love you back? That’s what your dog did, right?

Franz recalled Bastian’s hidden care for a stray dog.  One day, while fleeing from a riding lesson he despised, he found a large, wolf-like wild dog in the forest and he saw his half-brother, Bastian, feeding the animal.

Once it had finished its meal, the dog sauntered over to the base of the tree where Bastian sat who was looking up at the sky.

Franz couldn’t tear his gaze away from that peaceful scene.  

The dog released a long yawn and nestled into Bastian’s lap, receiving gentle strokes on its head. A gentle breeze rustled the blossoming forest, and the spring sun filtered through the leaves, casting a warm glow on Bastian’s smiling face. It was the first time Franz had ever seen his brother look like an ordinary, happy boy.

Consumed by curiosity, Franz hurried home to his mother and shared what he had witnessed. A few days later, the wild dog met a tragic end; ‘that the dog had become aggressive after being accidentally shot with an anesthetic bullet during a hunting lesson, and it had bitten Bastian.’ Cornered, Bastian was forced to use his own hands to end the dog’s life. And after that the family’s future took a different path. Bastian left home and became the grandson of a junk dealer.

‘”You love the dog that bit you because it was blinded by a piece of meat. Now you love the woman who stabbed you in the back to protect her sister. What a tearful love.”  Franz smiled like his mother the day he learned Bastian’s secret.  “So now you just have to kill her, right?”

   Franz could see in the minute cracks in Bastian’s stern expression that he was getting to him, he was dealing Bastian a blow that struck harder than any physical punch he could muster.

   “That’s your way of loving, isn’t it?”

   That was it, the final chip at Bastian’s cool resolve. Franz didn’t even see it coming, all he felt was pain and the world rushing around in a blur of unfocused lights and colour. 

His face smeared with blood from his nose and lips.

Oh how it hurt, but he laughed all the same, he had finally won against Bastian.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Something was wrong. Odette could feel it in the moment when her eyes met Franz, who was smirking through the blood and bruises. Even in that moment, when Bastian was beating the life out of him, he looked happy, like he wanted this end from the moment he kidnapped her.

   “No, its too dangerous, madam,” Dora said, who stopped Odette in her tracks. “Please, just get in the car so we can get out of here. You must think about your baby!”

   Odette knew that Dora was right, but she couldn’t so easily turn away. The servants were struggling to pull Bastian off Franz, who easily got free of their feeble hands to strike out at Franz one more time. Cold and calm, like a surgeon performing an operation, he mercilessly continued to beat him.

 At this rate, Franz was going to die at the hands of his half-brother. Bastian was so enamoured by rage that he could not see that the one that was cornered was himself.

   Odette broke free of Dora and ran with all urgency to Bastian Before she realised what she had done, she flung herself at him, hugging him from the back.

   “Please stop, Bastian,” Odette pleaded desperately.

   Bastian paused as he approached Franz, who had collapsed in the middle of the road. When he focused on the world around him, he looked at Odette.

   “Please stop, you are putting your own life at risk.”

   Odette’s arms around his waist slowly cooled the anger in his heart and reawakened his rationality. Despite being petrified with fear, Odette did not relent.

   “You have to protect our baby, so please, stop.”

   The baby. A laugh escaped with each ragged breath as he repeated  the excuse Odette had found. It reminded him of his own reflection in her eyes. A monster with a single minded desire to take revenge by stealing her child.

   He knew what Franz’s intentions were, but he had allowed himself to get caught up in base emotions any way. It was the same murderous intent he had faced when with Sandrine’s little trick as she presented Odette’s vulgar picture. 

   “Bastian…” Odette whispered his name, her melodic voice carrying across the wind.

   Bastian looked down at her, shutting out the rest of the world until there was only her. Weakness always became the target of attacks. Bastian knew that all too well, a tactic he had employed many times himself. What hurt the most was that it was a weakness he was completely unaware of.

Odette…

   His eyes sunk deep and became like an abyss as he looked at his weakness, a weakness exploited by Franz and Sandrine. That was when Theodora came onto the scene with the sound of screeching tires.

   “Franz? Oh my lord, Franz,” she yelled hysterically.

   Franz was sprawled out into the middle of the road like a corpse, the only sign of life was the wheezing breath escaping from between broken teeth. However, he shrugged off his mother’s help, pushing her away.

   “Keep going, Bastian,” Franz coughed. “Finish me off, kill me, KILL ME!” he shouted.

   Franz struggled to pull himself up, screaming hysterically at Bastian, Theodora was desperately trying to calm her son, sat on the road and hugging Franz, but her efforts were reduced to simply crying.

   Bastian ignored it all as he concentrated solely on Odette. He saw her as clear as day, her big bright eyes filled with nothing but him. In her eyes he could see his fathers face, the one thing he hated more, the ugly monster that his father had created, who followed a life he hated so much.

   The curses poured from Theodora, coupled with Franz’s bloodied screams and the chatter of the servants. All the fuss filled the air with a buzz of annoyance and Bastian wanted nothing more than to make it stop.

   As the light started to fade in a blur of darkened vision, as he felt the trap closing around him again, his breathing became irregular. The world became a dream again and as he was about to lose control all over again, a small, warm hand rested on his cheek.

   “Bastian?” A voice came like the silver threads of moonlight.

   Bastian focused on the moonlight and the noise of the world around him faded into background noise. His life, marred by muddiness, in vain, and full of disappointment, occupied his thoughts. And then, in that very moment, he felt the tender touch against his face.

   “I’m fine now,” Odette said as he turned his attention to her. He was breathing like a chased beast, but gradually came back to stability thanks to her caress on his cheek.  “Lets go back together,” she smiled through tear-stained cheeks, a blend of both light and darkness in her face.

  Odette…

She was a weakness that would always come under attack from his enemies. The stray dog he had killed taught him a life lesson that would remain etched in his memory. He knew he had to let go of her, but even in that realisation, how could he? He could never let go of this woman, who shook him off with just her fingertips.

   His whole world, that had been meticulously built through concise calculations was falling apart quicker than he could rebuild.

   Bastian clung to the only beautiful thing he had left in the ruins of his life, but it was a hopeless salvation.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

JOIN BASTIAN’S NOVEL DISCUSSION ON DISCORD CHANNEL https://discord.gg/woopread   (Just Click)

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.